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At the farm, "Rainforest Remedies," a profit-sharing company comprised of traditional healers, herb gatherers, laborers and employees produces a wide range of traditional medicines. Their colorful names range from "Belly Be Good" for chronic gas pains, to "Jungle Salve" for insect bites, to "Sweet Blood" for the treatment of diabetes and everything in between.
Shropshire, currently the general manager and director, said he believes that almost all plants have a medicinal purpose. He feels that medicinal plants are a better alternative to chemical medicines because they usually do not cause side effects. Chemical medicines "may solve one problem but create another," he said.
Low cost for patients can be another benefit of the use of natural medicines, its proponents claim. Many Mayans feel that it is more economical to simply go into the forest and collect plants to heal themselves.
The traditional healers and herb gatherers of Ix Chel are a wealth of information; they have a cure for just about anything. Bernardino Mai, a Mayan who has been employed at Ix Chel for three years, remembers how his family used plants to heal him as a child.
His son's wife also has used herbs to treat infertility after she had tried to become pregnant for two years. Although doctors thought she was infertile, Mai gathered herbs and made his own medicine. She became pregnant within two months.
According to Shropshire, the mysteries of traditional medicines are not explained with scientific reason. "They just work." These Mayan traditions have been passed on for hundreds of years, he said.
In a place where money and westernized healthcare are not readily available, the people of Belize are devoted to their faith in alternative medicine. When asked why he believes in the curative powers of herbal remedies, Shropshire responded, "Why do you believe in chemical medicines?"
-- Crystal Browskowski